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DURHAM, N.C. - UCLA sophomore shortstop Brandon Crawford has been selected as a semi-finalist for the 2007 USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award. This season marks the 30th consecutive year in which the USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award has been presented to the nation's premier amateur baseball player.

Crawford has been named as one of 50 semi-finalists for the Golden Spikes Award. The Pleasanton, Calif., resident is joined by two other premier shortstops on the semi-finalist list - Todd Frazier (Rutgers) and Josh Horton (North Carolina). Five Pac-10 players, including Crawford, are represented on the watch list. Arizona State's Eric Sogard and Brett Wallace, California's Tyson Ross and Arizona's Preston Guilmet have also been tabbed semi-finalists.

The Golden Spikes Award semi-finalist list marks the second such 'watch list' to which Crawford has been named. Last week, the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association tabbed Crawford to its annual Dick Howser Trophy Watch List.

Crawford has helped lead UCLA to the top of the Pac-10 standings with a 10-2 conference record. The sophomore from Pleasanton, Calif., currently leads the Bruins with 58 hits, 40 runs scored, 14 doubles, two triples, 41 RBI, 91 total bases and nine stolen bases.

Crawford has had at least one hit in 35 of the Bruins' 42 games this season. He has tallied a team-best 19 multi-hit games, including a season-high four hits in UCLA's 16-11 win at Stanford on March 31.

His two-out grand slam in the bottom of the eighth inning against East Carolina on Feb. 18 helped catapult UCLA out of a 7-5 deficit and allow the Bruins to sweep the visiting Pirates with a 9-7 victory. When UCLA trailed crosstown rival USC, 6-4, with two outs and two runners on base in the top of the ninth, Crawford drilled an 0-and-2 pitch to left field for a base hit to tie the game, 6-6. One batter later, Crawford scored the go-ahead run from second base on an infield single as the Bruins held on to win, 7-6, on April 14.

Named the Bruins' team MVP in 2006, Crawford played an instrumental role in guiding UCLA to the 2006 NCAA Regionals. As a freshman, he hit at a .318 clip with six home runs and 30 RBI.

UCLA has posted a 24-18 record this season and has won 16 of its last 20 games. The Bruins return to action at UC Irvine on Tuesday, May 1, at 6 p.m.